The peace process needs bold thinking and bold actions, the US special envoy to Ireland, Richard Haass, has said

Mr Haass, who was in Dublin on Tuesday for separate meetings with the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen, said he was encouraged by what he had heard in recent discussions.

He held talks with Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy on Sunday and with Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble in London on Monday night.

Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness met the envoy in Washington last week.

Bertie Ahern is meeting Richard Haass

Mr Haass travels to Belfast for talks with the Northern Ireland parties on Wednesday morning.

Before leaving Belfast, he is expected to make clear his desire to see what the prime minister called "acts of completion".

He is expected to repeat his call for Sinn Fein to take its seats on the Policing Board.

Northern Ireland's political institutions were suspended over allegations of IRA activity including intelligence gathering at Stormont.

Following the collapse of power-sharing, current legislation dictates that the British and Irish Governments must hold a review of the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement on which devolution was based.

But unless some common ground can be found between the parties on how to proceed, there is no mechanism for reinstating Northern Ireland's government.

Both the British and Irish Governments have stressed that there will be no renegotiation of the Agreement.

It is thought Mr Haass is using the latest round of talks to put together the bones of a deal that could be put to the parties when they are in Washington next month for the St Patrick's Day celebrations.